Decentralization and Infrastructure in the Global Economy

Jonas Frank is Senior Public Sector Management Specialist, Global Unit for Public Sector Governance, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, World Bank, Washington DC, USAJorge Martínez-Vázquez is Regents Professor of Economics and Director of the International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University in Atlanta.

• 1. Decentralization and Infrastructure: From Gaps to Solutions A. Measuring Infrastructure Gaps: Quantity and Quality Perspectives 2. The Infrastructure Gap and Decentralization 3. Trends and Quality of Spending of Decentralized Public Investment B. Fundamentals in Flux: Functions, Finance, and Equalization for Decentralized Public Investment 4. Principles and Practice 5. Financing Infrastructure 6. Capital Infrastructure and Equity Objectives in Decentralized Systems C. Sectoral perspectives 7. Investing in Health Infrastructure: How Decentralization Matters 8. Educational Infrastructure, School Construction and Decentralization in Developing Countries: Key Issues for an Understudied Area 9. Rural Roads: The Challenge of Decentralized Implementation D. Investing into the Invisible: Management and Coordination of Decentralized Public Investment 10. The Challenge of Operating and Maintaining Infrastructure 11. Multi-Tier Monitoring of Infrastructure: Top Down and Bottom Up 12. Coordination of Infrastructure Investment across Levels of Government E. The Political Economy and Corruption Challenges 13. The Political Economy of Local Infrastructure Planning 14. Decentralized Provision of Public Infrastructure and Corruption